The world's most powerful central bankers sound like they're in no rush to speed ahead on their new inflation-fighting path.

In the U.S. and Eurozone, central banks have pivoted toward monetary tightening in recent weeks—but they want to take it slowly, even though prices are rising at the fastest pace in decades. That suggests they still see choking the recovery and eliminating jobs as the bigger risk, after persistent unemployment last decade stoked political turmoil across the Western world.

The Federal Reserve and European Central Bank (ECB) continue to add stimulus to their economies. They've been reluctant to end their asset purchases on the spot or to signal a faster pace of interest-rate hikes, preferring to stick with the same step-by-step policy guidance that they used in the low-inflation years before Covid.